A-8 cross country: Indian Rocks girls, Seffner Christian boys prevail

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LARGO — It was widely assumed there would be a logjam atop the standings at the girls Class A, District 8 cross country meet with three teams — Indian Rocks Christian, Seffner Christian and Tampa Prep — jostling for the overall title.

Sure enough, the race was close with just 13 points separating the top three. The Golden Eagles won their first team title in Bobby Labrant’s five years as coach with 45 points, three ahead of Seffner Christian.

“I looked at virtual meets and scoring and it had us winning,” Labrant said. "But you still have to run the race. We were expected to win last year and finished second, so anything can happen.”

The Golden Eagles won by having five runners place in the top 14. Bobbi Labrant was IRC’s highest place winner, finishing fourth in 20:18.36. Teammate ToriTrador was sixth in 21:14.19.

But the difference for IRC might have been Mia Gillespie, the Golden Eagles’ No. 5 runner heading into the meet. Gillespie had the third-best finish on her team, placing 10th overall in 21:42.10, a nearly two-minute improvement over her previous best.

Tampa Prep’s Claire Snyder won in 18:48.16, followed by Seffner Christian’s Sabrina Whiting (19:47.77) and Tampa Prep’s Caroline Williams (20:15.04). The Terrapins scored 58 points to place third and will advance to regionals.

In the boys race, Seffner Christian won its first team title, outscoring Tampa Prep 27-38.

Seffner Christian’s Josh Keenan won in 16:53.80. The Terrapins’ Yuri Costa (16:58.50) and Miller Judge (16:58.74) were second and third, respectively. Rounding out the top five were Seffner Christian’s Noah Lambert (17:14.13) and Tampa Prep’s Mihir Dubey (17:21.83).

In all, Seffner Christian had four of the top seven runners.

“I had a feeling it was going to be between us and Tampa Prep,” Seffner Christian coach Andy Holmes said. “I knew Tampa Prep had some runners that were hurt. We just had to pick our spots. We were down by about six points after the first mile and then started to make up ground.”